Review: Glen Garioch Virgin Oak
Like its sister distillery Auchentoshan, Highlands-based Glen Garioch is releasing a “Virgin Oak” expression aged not in ex-bourbon casks but in fresh, newly charred white oak barrels that haven’t seen a drop of whiskey before — a first-ever for Glen Garioch, which has been operating since 1797. As with the Auchie, this expression is bottled…
Review: Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey
If you’re unfamiliar with “single grain” whiskey, you’re not alone. While in fact the majority of Irish whiskey sold is grain whiskey, single grain whiskey is not typically seen on the shelf. (The single doesn’t refer to the type of grain but rather the fact that it’s made at a single distillery.) All grain whiskey is made…
Tasting Chopin Vodka: Potato vs. Rye vs. Wheat
Curious how the base carbohydrate impacts the way a straight vodka tastes? Well, Poland-based Chopin is here to illustrate. It’s one of the few companies that make a multitude of straight vodkas from different base products. In fact, it now makes three: one from potato, one from rye, and one from wheat. While I’ve tasted…
Review: Whistling Andy Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Up next, craft distilling comes to… Montana. The curiously-named Whistling Andy offers this new, all-local bourbon (the state’s first) made from 100% Montana-grown grains. A unique blend of corn, barley, wheat, and rye is used for the mashbill, which is triple-distilled in pot stills, then aged for three years in medium-char new oak barrels. The…
Review: Bowmore Devil’s Casks 10 Years Old
A new limited edition expression from Islay’s Bowmore, the Devil’s Casks bottling is inspired by a local legend involving the devil being chased by the churchgoing folk of the area into Bowmore’s vaults, where he is said to have escaped by hiding inside a cask of hooch. I can’t vouch for whether there is any…
Review: Powers Gold Label Irish Whiskey (2014)
The good folks at Ireland’s Powers don’t know when to quit. First they rebrand and relabel their classic Gold Label Irish whiskey in 2009, now they’re back at it again, redoing the bottle a second time while boosting the proof a bit. (And that doesn’t even include the launch of the masterful John’s Lane special…
Review: Auchentoshan Virgin Oak
Lowlands-based Auchentoshan, the only fully triple-distilled single malt in Scotland, has launched this “virgin oak” expression, aged in new oak barrels instead of ex-Bourbon barrels (or ex-sherry casks), which is the norm. No age statement is provided. Huge wood on the nose here, oily, somewhat smoky, and punchy with lots of tar and tannin. The…
Review: Nelson’s Green Brier Belle Meade Bourbon
A craft distillery is reborn in Nashville, Tennessee… and they’re putting “the B word” on the label! Belle Meade is, as the story goes, a relaunch of a pre-Prohibition bourbon brand that was owned by one Charles Nelson. Today, two of his great-great-great grandsons are bringing the brand back, under the auspices of Nelson’s Green Brier…
